The present invention relates to accessory holders, such as a cup holder installable, for example, in a vehicle, that are capable of lowering or raising their bottoms.
Conventionally, as one example of such accessory holders, a cup holder capable of varying its depth by opening or closing a tray, which is rotatably supported by the lid of the cup holder, has been known. This is illustrated, for example, in FIG. 3 of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-48474 (patent document 1).
Access holders that are capable of sweeping out for collection of coins or the like, which may fall into the gap provided for housing the lid, by lifting the lid before closing, have also been known. This is illustrated, for example, in claim 1 of Japanese Unexamined-Utility Model Publication No. H06-32199 (patent document 2), claim 1 of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H11-189257 (patent document 3), and in paragraph 0017 of Japanese Patent No. 3475155 (patent document 4).
The aforementioned prior art trays, however, are manually rotated, and thus had a first problem in that their operation was made cumbersome. The aforementioned prior art trays, moreover, had a second problem of possibly coming in contact with the interior of the holder body or generating noise due to the vibration of a running vehicle. In addition, the aforementioned coin sweeping mechanism had a third problem in that the coin removal process was cumbersome or their structure was overly complex.
The purpose of the present invention is to overcome the aforementioned first through third problems of the conventional technology discussed above.
A first object of the invention is to overcome the foregoing first and second problems with the aforementioned prior art technology, and to provide an accessory holder with simple tray operation which is capable of preventing the generation of noise.
A second object of the invention is to provide an accessory holder with a simple separator operation where a separator is used in lieu of a tray that is expected to be accompanied by similar problems, and that is capable of preventing the generation of noise.
A third object of the invention is to overcome the third problem associated with the prior art technology described above, and to provide an accessory holder with a simple coin removal operation by allowing the coin to fall within the holder body without sweeping it out, while simplifying the device configuration.
A fourth object of the invention is to provide, in addition to the third object of the invention, a device capable of guiding a coin or any other fallen object into the holder body by utilizing a slanted surface.
A fifth object of the invention is to provide, in addition to the fourth object of the invention, a simplified separator operation, and to prevent the generation of noise.
A sixth object of the invention is to provide, in addition to the fifth object of the invention, a system that makes coin removal easy, while simplifying the structure.
Each of the embodiments of the present invention is proposed herein in order to achieve the respective objectives discussed above, and will be explained below with reference to the drawings.